diff --git a/lib/mnemonic.py b/lib/mnemonic.py
index 753ea8105..80650a090 100644
--- a/lib/mnemonic.py
+++ b/lib/mnemonic.py
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ class Mnemonic(object):
 
     def __init__(self, lang=None):
         if lang in [None, '']:
-            lang = i18n.language.info().get('language')
+            lang = i18n.language.info().get('language', 'en')
         print_error('language', lang)
         filename = filenames.get(lang[0:2], 'english.txt')
         path = os.path.join(util.data_dir(), 'wordlist', filename)